Strange as it may sound, a dog can change your world entirely. A dog can show you how unconditional love feels like, how friendship without limits looks like. A dog’s love is pure; it knows no boundaries.

THE PRESENT a short animated film about a young boy who is very busy playing a video game, then suddenly his mother brings a present for him, a cute puppy with only three legs. The boy got annoyed noticing the imperfect dog, ignored him and continued to play his video game. But dog did not care. The dog wanted to play. But what happens next will delight you and make you realize why this film got 60 awards.

This film was made by two students, Jacob Frey and Markus Kranzler in 2014 as a graduation project while studying at Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Inspired by a comic strip by Brazilian artist Fabio Coala, Frey says he was in awe of the story-line of the comic, and was inspired to translate it into an animated short.

Interestingly, the film addresses major issues related to kids. In the present world kids seem to forget about the outdoor games, they are so busy playing video games and with gadgets like they don’t know that there is an outside world full of colors and beauties.

Toughest puzzle for you may be having is creating work-life balance and financial independence.

You work 40 hours a week. Get vacation as allocated by the employer. Depending on your financial situation, you may not have money to take vacation. For some of you, you are so bogged down at work that you work through your vacation time in the hopes of better times ahead. But better times rarely come.

For many with family constraints may require them to spend more time at home and thus sacrifice career growth. For those opt for career growth, they have to sacrifice family life hoping that family will accept that. Of course, many folks try to maintain a balance between home & office.

You need to modify how you view your job. You get a salary to do 40 hours of work per week. You must come on time at 9 am and work efficiently to plan & finish it by 6 pm. You must try to do your job in the best possible way. But you must not sign up for more work than what you can deliver. You must recognize and accept that 9-6 work will only help you “earn” your salary.

The key thing to note is that you do not need to choose between work and family life. The main reason you get into such a bind is need of additional revenue during the course of daily routine. The solution, though not easy, is to have alternate resources of revenue.

If you really want a good growth for you and your family, then you need to spend some more time building your own business. Dedicate extra time (such as 6-9 pm) to start, establish and expand your own business. Interestingly, you are able to get into business venture(s) without sacrificing any family life thanks to online opportunities.

Life passes by so quickly. There are not enough hours in a day. There is no time to meet our loved ones. Ironic as it may be, those who have no family ties, envy those who have family; and those who have family, so much dram that goes on.

In that light, Edeka’s Christmas commercial is most powerful ever. A Christmas ad from EDEKA, Germany’s largest grocery chain, is wrenching and warming hearts around the world and making people miss home. The commercial is one minute and 46 seconds of an emotional roller coaster, as the song Dad by Supreme Music plays in the background. It opens on a scene of an elderly man receiving a message from his daughter. She and her family won’t be visiting this Christmas. They’ll try again next year. His granddaughter shouts into the phone, “Merry Christmas,” as he watches from a window a neighbor greeting his own family.

Living their busy lives, people fail to create the time to see their parents, brothers, sisters, and other relatives. There is that false perception that they will get together “another time”. Sadly, that “another time” never occurs. Before you know it, the family member passes away. All you have is a heavy regret for not having gotten your act together for a simple holiday visit.

Edeka’s video really nails it and sends an extremely strong message to busy families everywhere on the importance of creating time to be with your own kin. Very touching video, it is a great reminder that we should never forget about our parents. The commercial highlights its theme, come home- if not the holidays, then when can you make time to be one as a family?

With so many diet programs and exercise methods to reduce or eliminate fat for women, how does one know which is authentic? It is tough to determine what works or not.

Beta Switch, created by Sue Heintze, is effective program as it was used by more than half the winners of the nationwide Women’s Health & Fitness Body Blitz competition. According to Sue, The Beta Switch program has been enjoyed by women all around the world, and will work for anyone, regardless of age or where their stubborn fat is stored.

The Beta Switch is a 12-week nutrition and lifestyle system that uses proven, science-based strategies to “turn on” your body’s beta switches and eliminate stubborn fat deposits, without strict dieting or excessive exercise, in less than a month.

The Beta Switch system focuses around activating fat-burning beta receptors (or what the program refers to as “beta switches”) that react with the hormone adrenaline to signal your body to release fat. This is in direct contrast to alpha receptors, which signal your body to store fat, and are often present in high levels when dieting or over-exercising.
According to Wikipedia, there are 3 types of beta receptors; beta 1, beta 2, and beta 3. Among many other functions, these receptors are responsible for lipolysis and the breakdown of glycogen (a form of glucose) in various parts of the body, while beta 3 receptors specifically can cause thermogenesis in skeletal muscle.

It is not clear how the Beta Switch program can “turn on” your beta receptors, exactly how this process occurs, how much weight you can expect to lose. The Beta Switch program does not emphasize on strict diet control. It focuses on nutritional side of turning your body’s fat burning elements on thoroughly and effectively.

Sue Heintze is a fitness model and the owner of IdealBodiesOnline.com, where she provides a variety of fitness programs, e-books, supplements, and more. She is fitness icon as she has over 20 years of experience during which she has coached number of women in body competitions.

Sue Heintze’s Beta Switch program is not about quick fix by eating or not eating certain foods. It’s about your lifestyle change to enhance quality of your life. It is a digital course comprising of videos and manuals. The program provides easy to follow lessons that are straight forward and effective. It is imperative that you need to discuss the program with your physician to ensure no adverse effects, especially if you have any medical conditions.

If you have any reservations, you need not worry. The program comes with a guarantee! Simply stated, that you will get your money back. Now, you really can’t beat that. Though you may not lose weight, but at least you will get your money back and gain knowledge about weight loss and overall health.

The 2016 election was explosive. The way nation is divided, it would not have mattered who had won. The America as a nation rendered for change and Donald Trump will be the next President. It is disturbing indeed, that the media, pundits and some business heads are reluctant to accept the result and are engaged in outright condemning the results.

PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi said many of her non-white employees are “in mourning” and afraid for their safety after Donald Trump’s presidential win in recent election. Nooyi, 61, grew up in India and became a U.S. citizen after Yale School of Management and the PepsiCo CEO in 2006.

Mrs. Nooyi, a Hillary Clinton supporter, stated at New York Times Dealbook conference after the election “I had to answer a lot of questions from my daughters, from our employees. They were all in mourning. Our employees were all crying. The question that they are asking, especially those who are not white: ‘Are we safe?’ Women are asking ‘Are we safe?’ LGBT people are asking ‘Are we safe?’

It must be pointed out that “all” her employees were not crying. And these fears (by some) were utterly unreasonable. I venture to say that if she doesn’t know that, she shouldn’t be running the company she is. If you have employees crying about unreasonable fears, do you really have to bring up that nonsense? Absolutely, that ought not to be the concern of CEO.

Nooyi’s comments as CEO of a major corporation are totally inappropriate as there should be no room for her individual political preference. Most CEO’s usually stay out of political area and encourage employees to keep politics out of work area. But there is unusual trend with corporate executives as they have been living in the bubble of wealth and far removed culturally from the rest of America. These executives, including Indra Nooyi, believe that political correctness is an acceptable substitute for real leadership. They know that as long as they say the right things and kowtows to the right interest groups, it is unlikely they will ever lose their job.

She is totally blind to her personal rise to the helm of one of the leading corporation in the United States. A woman from South Asia, who hit the shores of America as a young adult, was chosen to head America’s most iconic brands at age 51. Thus it is disheartening that Ms. Nooyi has opted to undercut her present notion of America as a dark, threatening place.

Needless to say, she is an ungrateful immigrant. In fairness, she need not be singled out. The Fortune 500 companies are headed by executives, many of whom attended elite liberal universities and came of age during the late 60s and 70s. Many of them are not particularly sympathetic to free enterprise or traditional American values.

Instead of appreciating the success she has accomplished as an immigrant, she has embraced the racism promoted by the liberals. It amazes me that a person with this shallow level of thinking would be chosen to lead a major American company. The United States comprises of people of all colors- including whites. Looking back in history, it needs to be acknowledged that Americans of European ancestry founded this nation and are still 65-75% of the population.

Setting that aside, people must get over it, get a life, and get off the focus of color and focus instead on character. Americans in a slight majority rejected that vision. America was never built on “color”. America has been a land for those dreamt. America has been land of people who took actions. America has been a land for those explored dangerous spaces- on earth and beyond. America can’t be land where “safe” spaces are provided for cry-babies. America rules with law and order where justice is guaranteed for all. America has been a land for those wanting to be strong.

While Ms. Nooyi comforts her few workers for being safe, America moves on to be Great Again.

You want to lose pounds then you may want to consider changing times for your food intake. Recent research finds that the time you eat lunch especially could make a difference.

Lean Plate Club™ blogger Sally Squires said eating at certain times of the day might make you more likely to store that food as fat instead of burning it as calories.

Squires said Spanish researchers have tackled this issue and determined that people with a variation of a gene called perilipin 1 lost less weight than those without the gene. In addition, they found that people with that gene who also ate at lunch after 3 p.m. lost even less weight.

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It involved nearly 1,400 overweight men and women who were participating in seven months of weight loss treatments, which included a Mediterranean diet rich in nuts, healthy oils, and plenty of fruit, vegetables and whole grains and fish.

Furthermore, Squires pointed to other studies suggesting that eating late at night might be linked to an increased risk of breast cancer in women. A study of 2,400 women published earlier this year in JAMA Oncology found that women who had fewer than 13 hours without eating between dinner and breakfast had a 36 percent increased risk of breast cancer returning. In contrast, there was no increased risk for those who had at least 13 hours between dinner and breakfast.

Did you know that drinking a can of sugary soda every day can dramatically heighten a person’s risk of developing prediabetes?

According to the study published in the Journal of Nutrition, a person who drinks a daily can of sugar-sweetened beverage has a 46 percent increased risk of developing prediabetes. However, a can of diet soda every day does not boost prediabetes risk. Nicola McKeown, was a senior researcher scientist with the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston.

The results of the study show how regular sugar intake can batter a person’s body on a cellular level. The constant spike in blood glucose over time leads to the cells not becoming able to properly respond, and that’s the beginning of insulin resistance.

Prediabetes is an important landmark on the way to type 2 diabetes. Normally it is an indication that a person has elevated blood sugar — a sign of increasing insulin resistance — but has not entered full-blown type 2 diabetes.

The research team found those who drank the highest amounts of sugar-sweetened beverages — six 12-ounce servings a week, on average — had a 46 percent higher risk of prediabetes.

It is to be noted that the risk factors for prediabetes include factors such as weight, inactivity, race and family history. However, according to the study, prediabetes risk did decline when they included factors such as other dietary sources of sugar and how much body fat a person had. But it didn’t fall much as increased risk associated with sugary drinks still amounted to about 27 percent.

Ironically, when studies are funded by the beverage industry, they are less likely to find a link between sugary drinks and obesity and type 2 diabetes. In a report, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, Schillinger and his colleagues report that out of the 60 studies they reviewed, 26 did not find a relationship between sugary drinks and obesity or diabetes, and 34 did report a link. All of the studies that did not link the drinks to disease were funded by the beverage industry.

Is it possible that you may be looking forward to a plate of fried grasshoppers instead of a plate of juicy steak? At this time it may be tough to even stomach the thought of munching on bugs. But experts say that nutritionally speaking, they’re a good substitute for beef, and may be a valuable food source of the future.

Traditional diets around the world do include insects. A 2013 report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations noted that more than 1,900 insect species have been documented as food sources globally. As the global population grows, it is possible that insects may alternative to meat and fish.

The researchers from Kings College London and Ningbo University in China analyzed the mineral content of grasshoppers, crickets, mealworms, and buffalo worms (oy)—along with a sample of sirloin beef—and estimated how much of each nutrient would likely be absorbed if eaten. The results were published this week in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry.

Crickets, for example, had the highest levels of iron, calcium, and manganese. According to the researchers, iron solubility (a characteristic that allows a mineral to be taken up and used by the body) was significantly higher in the insect samples than in the beef. Grasshoppers, crickets, and mealworms also had higher concentrations of chemically available calcium, copper, zinc, and magnesium, when compared to the sirloin.

The researchers concluded. “Commonly consumed insect species could be excellent sources of bioavailable iron,” they wrote, “and could provide the platform for an alternative strategy for increased mineral intake in the diet of humans.”

Believe it or not, bugs are paving into western food products. Cricket flour, for example, has become a popular ingredient in the high-protein, low-carb Paleo diet. Exo is at the forefront of a growing movement to include insects in Western eating habits.

There is concern for the environment and an interest in sustainable living. Then there is the desire for clean nutrition and food fads such as the paleo diet and the gluten-free food. It is possible that crickets may be a superfood in near future. They are about 60% protein, are packed with vitamin B12, have more calcium than milk and more iron than spinach, and provide all the essential amino acids. Exo’s and Chapul’s bars, made from cricket flour, are gluten-free, dairy-free and paleo-friendly.

It is often said that never get into controversial discussions in the areas of politics, religion and lately, political correctness. At the onset, I want to make clear this is not intended as an endorsement of any person or a party.

It is hard to pinpoint exactly when America started its downward slide. I would venture to say that most of the slide started somewhere after mid-1990s. The baby boomers began to set in their lifestyle of totally semi-utopian and emergence of political correctness. Highly paid but hardly qualified media elites projected false images of perfection as long they were looking into a camera. They colored their world into wishful thinking. In the process, the “old” American values that made this country great were sidelined.

Eventually the baby-boomers and their children engulfed into “guilt-complex” showered by liberal media only to advocate America’s greatness and exceptionalism needs to be ridiculed. The freedom of expression, so much cherished under the constitution, was eventually muzzled so the expressions do not hurt anyone’s feelings. Feminist women acquired their freedom so much so they have ridiculed women who stayed home to take care of the children. Simply put, America digressed to the point people readily took path toward destruction of America’s greatness and exceptionalism.

That brings me to recent speech by Peter Theil, co-founder of PayPal who is endorsing Donald Trump for President. He acknowledged that Donald Trump is not a perfect person by any means. According to Thiel, Trump gets the “big things” right such as understanding that free trade “has not worked out well for all of America” and that voters have grown tired of 15 years of overseas conflicts.

It is interesting to note that Thiel is a prominent gay conservative and was ridiculed by The Advocate, a leading LGBT magazine for supporting Donald Trump. Theil was critical of the diversity advocated by the liberals as he said, “The lie behind the buzzword of diversity could not be made more clear,” Thiel said Monday. “If you don’t conform, then you don’t count as diverse, no matter what your personal background.”

It must be noted here that since mid-1990s America has undergone various bubbles thanks to baby-boomers which has resulted in economic upheavals. The bubbles- immigration, housing, dotcom, stock, trade- were compulsions of experts (mostly baby-boomers) who reached out for an easy solution while denying reality. They bought into the rosy promise of next bubble only to inflate eventually. Oddly, America has never totally recovered from any bubbles and now they have to come to haunt us.

This is where Donald Trump is different. He deplores a bubble mentality and ridicules politicians’ reassuring stories and claiming everything is fine. He wants to ensure and awaken America’s optimism with hard work. He wants to instill the greatness that America had and can have in the years ahead.

Of course, politicians from Democratic and Republican parties could not effectively challenge Donald Trump’s current outlook of the United Sates so they branded him as “race-baiting, immigrant-bashing, misogynistic, sexually predatory, religiously bigoted vulgar” person. Win or lose, Donald Trump has been one-man force who has disrupted America’s political landscape. He was able to do so because Americans are tired of being taken for granted, always sidestepped only to be taxed while their rights trampled in the name of diversity. Politicians from both parties consider their constituents nothing but fools only to be reached out during the elections.

Over the years, politicians and media elites have demolished America’s greatness as they pursued path of multi-culturalism and political correctness. It is true that America is greatness lies in the existence of multiculturalism. The big difference is that America enables multiculturalism to thrive. But the liberals tend to believe that “multiculturalism” makes America great.

It is also possible that Trumpism may be just another big bubble to hit America. The difference is that Trump bubble is driven by non-politician who wants to make America great again. Once in a while there is a movement that launches a change in a direction that yields awakening of spirit and drive within people who say, “We can’t take it anymore.”
Win or lose, Donald Trump is a champion of the movement.

At the onset it must be admitted greatest American marketing scheme is bottled water. Often the claim is made that bottled water is “pure” water as it is from natural spring water resources. The irony is that even tap water is from “natural” spring water resources. So what is the truth?

Bottled water comes in two varieties. There’s purified water, which is water from local sources (a.k.a. tap water) that has been filtered, and there’s natural spring water, which is sourced from springs across the United States. About 55 percent of bottled water in the United States is spring water, including Crystal Geyser and Arrowhead. The other 45 percent comes from the municipal water supply, meaning that companies, including Aquafina and Dasani, simply treat tap water—the same stuff that comes out of your faucet at home—and bottle it up.

The label on your bottled water may depict a peaceful mountain stream, but that doesn’t mean the water inside is pure and pristine. Some companies filter or radiate the tap water with ultraviolet light before selling it to you at several thousand times the cost of municipal tap water.

Bottled water is healthy, really? Many studies show that bottled water samples can contain phthalates, mold, microbes, benzene, trihalomethanes, even arsenic. And only recently did the FDA start regulating bottled water for E. Coli.

Simply put, some bottled water is glorified tap water at 10,000 times the cost.